poem

Major snaps to this poem. Kia does a great job at articulating an experience that many young educated black youth experience throughout their academic career. Her experience is pretty similar to what I experienced as a young black female growing up in inner city Queens, NY. I can’t tell you how many times I was called an Oreo or being told that I was trying to be White. I guess if trying to be anything other than ignorant is White, I’m rich vanilla. When did it be come a fad to be sound uneducated? Don’t get me wrong, I do believe that there is a certain dialect that excludes certain audiences because not everyone has exposure to such language, but that doesn’t mean that one should take pride in decreasing your ability to communicate? My ancestors risked too much to give me the opportunity to sit in a classroom and learn, I dare not disrespect what they gave me by engaging back to uneducated dialogue.

Like this:

T’is the night before the the official start of the National Poetry Slam 2011. Not a creature was sleeping, not even the poets. Tonight, Middle East, was rocking until well after midnight. Tonight, one of Cambridge ‘s most popular hub for music, food, and Boston culture was host to Bee-Cool Poetry/Music Mashup . I happened to head over to the Middle East around 8:30 last night to get a lil sampling of local and national talent. I got more than I bargained for and then some. Since it was free to get in, I was more than thrilled about the experience already. But then… there were poets. Junior performers whose hands still shook and the long timers whose voices bellowed through the crowd and commanded attention. There were singers and rappers and those who love to support them. Mosaic played too! They peppered the poets powerful prose with complimentary notes. With standing room only for much of the night you could have mistaken it for a semi-final. Working my way up through the crowd took some time, but eventually I was directly in front of the brave folks who let their voices be heard.

I was so hyped I quickly forgot the plans I’d made of “heading home early since I have work tomorrow.” Hours after ‘early’ and I’m still up after 1:30 because I couldn’t drag myself away to cuddle up warm in my bed while the poets “spit hot fiyah” haha. I couldn’t resist sharing some of tonight’s energy with you. While I didn’t record any of the poets I did note one that I enjoyed.

If haven’t you heard already you either don’t enjoy poetry enough or you’ve been living under a rock. It’s been all over the local papers and on the radio. I’ve been awaiting this moment since I saw the banner flying on JFK Street in Cambridge near Harvard Square – The National Poetry Slam is coming to Boston! As a poetry fiend I can’t tell you how pleased I am to be present for a mass ideas and voices of the people from all over the country. From 10:30am on Tuesday, August 9th through Saturday you can enjoy 75 poetry teams from across the country perform to win the title of National Poetry Slam winners. Since there are over 100 events will be running throughout the week, you can probably find some time to get to at least one of them.

While this isn’t one of those free opportunities I usually post about but I can’t pass up convincing you to check out at least one of the many opportunity to listen to modern poetry. Even though it isn’t cheap, it’s also relatively inexpensive – see event pricing here. The teams of people who helped put this event together worked very hard to make the experience extremely accessible to anyone who wished to attend. Whether you’re brand new Beantown or you’ve been around for a while there’s a comprehensive festival guide. The great thing is that the poets will be performing at stages in local Boston and Cambridge centers for culture. Each setting will have a unique ambiance and energy. Even if you’re not a lover of poetry I recommend you check these events out. They’re founding goal is to “bring poetry to people that wouldn’t engage with it otherwise. So they’re bringing it here just for you!

What’s my motive in encouraging you to check out the NPS even though it’s not free? Well it’s incredibly simple, poetry is near and dear to my heart. I began writing poetry when I was in JHS. By the time I entered my senior year of HS I’d collected a lot of various pieces that I was rather proud of. Unfortunately those poems were deemed ‘lost’ at the end of a stressful chapter of my life. While I wanted to give up on writing because I thought I’d lost a significant piece of my identify I chose to start fresh. One of the first poems I tried to rebuild from memory was “College in the Boondocks” which was a celebration of the new chapter in life I was about to embark on, College. I participated in my first poetry slams at college and place in all but 1 of the 3 contest I performed in. I’ve haven’t been on the stage in a while so I’m hoping the poets performing during the competition will not only engage my mind, but also stimulate my creative energies.

So, I give myself a 5 day challenge. Write everyday. I constantly find myself talking about how much I should write rather than actually putting ink to paper. And of course, I’ll share what I come up with along the way.